Early Thursday morning in the crisp almost-fall air, runners from all over the district congregated at College Park High School. After constant training, miles and miles of preparation and practice meets since August, the cross country team ran their district meet.

The varsity girl’s team finished third, earning the team a regional berth. Leading the team were freshman Paloma De Paz who finished seventh with a time of 19:24, and freshman Lilly Beakley who finished tenth with her time of 19:32. They will compete Monday, Oct. 21 at the regional competition in Huntsville at Kate Barr Ross Memorial Park.  

“It felt like everybody did amazing,” junior Lukas Cruz said. “We all have our strengths and weaknesses. We went out there and performed well.”

The girls team has not qualified for regionals in nine years. Paz and Beakley were in first grade at the time. This team has been in hard training for months before this meet, putting in hours and hours of running, conditioning and practicing. Their commitment to excellence, along with the determination to succeed, helped them reach their goal.

“As a coach, I am  supposed to guide my athletes to be the best that they can be,” Coach Aaron Breed said. “This meet, all my athletes went past their limits and did well.”

The future indeed looks bright for the cross country team. After having placing at the district meet and qualifying into regionals, it looks like the young runners are leading the team to bigger things.

“I am proud of my team in general,” senior Fernanda Ruiz said. “They compete and finished great. I know that I could do better this next race. I’m happy that I will be able to go to regionals.”

For the senior on the team, running against the tough regional competition is the perfect next step in her running career.

“Since I was a freshman, I have worked toward this,” Ruiz said. “Making it to regionals is a dream come true. When I realized we qualified, I could not stop crying.”